Two priests threatened with prison for criticizing radical Islam are acquitted

ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 18, 2025 / 06:30 am (CNA).

Two priests and a journalist who were tried for criticizing radical Islam have been acquitted by the Provincial Court of Malaga in Spain. 

The priests, Custodio Ballester and Jesús Calvo, along with the director of a digital media outlet, Armando Robles, were accused of committing hate crimes on a talk show in 2017.

The public prosecutor’s office had requested a four-year prison sentence for Robles, along with a 10-year ban from teaching and a €3,000 ($3,500) fine. In the case of the priests, the prosecutor sought a three-year sentence.

According to Europa Press, the ruling, after verifying that the defendants had not retracted their words and writings, which were treated as proven facts, focused its analysis on whether the spoken and written words were crimes. 

Specifically, the court determined whether the men’s statements criticizing radical Islam qualified as hate crimes under the law or were merely protected instances of freedom of expression.

The court determined that the elements of a hate crime were not present, “no matter how despicable and perverse the message” or how “clearly offensive” or “unfortunate” the statements.

“Not only is there speech protected by freedom of expression, but we could even accept that there is intolerant speech that also exists within the scope of freedom of expression, even though it may be offensive, not only to the group or person to whom it is directed, but even to the person listening to it,” the ruling stated.

Regarding Ballester’s statement, the court determined that “no matter how despicable and perverse the message or its author may be, if it is not accompanied by a clear and manifest promotion of hatred toward one of the groups protected by [the existence of] such a crime,” it is not criminal.

In the case of Calvo, the court noted that his statements “could well be classified, at least in large part, as delirious,” in the sense of “a verifiable reality resulting from the delirious ideas and psychological ailments suffered by the accused.”

In 2017, the Association of Muslims Against Islamophobia filed a complaint with the Special Service for Hate Crimes and Discrimination of the Barcelona prosecutor’s office. The petition requested an investigation into comments made by the three men during a television talk show.

Since the program in question was located in Málaga, the case was transferred to that province. There, prosecutor María Teresa Verdugo not only evaluated the comments made during the discussion, but also considered an article published in 2016 by Ballester. The text, titled “The Impossible Dialogue with Islam,” was written in response to a pastoral letter from then-Archbishop of Barcelona, ​​Cardinal Juan José Omella, titled “The Necessary Dialogue with Islam.”

The trial, initially scheduled for September 2024, had to be postponed because Ballester’s lawyer had another trial that took priority. The hearing was ultimately rescheduled for Oct 1 of this year.

In a statement shortly before the trial to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, Ballester said he felt at peace: “As Jesus Christ says, they will take us to the synagogue and the courts, and there the Holy Spirit will give us wisdom that our adversaries cannot counteract.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/267243/two-priests-threatened-with-prison-for-criticizing-radical-islam-are-acquitted